This coming weekend's forecast says temperatures will be 75-80 deg F in the afternoon, but with cloud cover. So let's do something with shady trees and not too much huffing and puffing. There are routes from the Little Si trailhead to the Mt Teneriffe trailhead that have these features, and with the Trailhead Direct bus, we don't need to worry about coming back to where we parked.
Our official start will be the Trailhead Direct bus stop on Broadway, southbound, just south of E Denny Way, but folks can get on the bus at other stops -- see the logistics section for details. We'll hop off the bus at the Little Si stop.
Our route starts up the Little Si trail, but turns east on the lower Boulder Garden trail, then to the Douglas Fir trail, which will take us over to the new Mt Si trail. A short distance up the Mt Si trail will take us to our lunch spot, which has benches, if they are not occupied, or a huge fallen tree (that took out one of the benches a few years back) to sit on.
At this point, we have an option: We can continue up the Mt Si trail, then turn off onto the Talus Loop trail. From there, we can join the Mt Teneriffe trail, and head down. Or, we can instead turn downward on the Mt Si trail, and take the Roaring Creek trail to get to the Mt Teneriffe trail. The Talus Loop option features a carefully stabilized path across a rock slide. The Roaring Creek option includes the fern-covered Roaring Creek trail, and a recently built bridge over Roaring Creek. The Talus Loop route is about 5.1 miles, 1630 ft elevation gain. The Roaring Creek route is about 4.8 miles, 1460 ft elevation gain.
Logistics:
This route has nothing technical, but hiking shoes or boots with good traction are recommended. A sun hat and sun protection will also be good, in case that big hot yellow thing does put in an appearance. And UV goes through clouds...
Official start and end times for the event at at Capitol Hill, and assume we don't want to hurry on the hike, and that we're going via Talus Loop.
Bring lunch, snacks, plenty of water, electrolytes. There is no water at either trailhead, and we won't cross any streams til near the end of the hike.
Bus riders: We are taking the Trailhead Direct Mt Si run that leaves from Broadway and E Denny at 9:08am, but it would be good to be there by 9am, as the bus has been known to show up early, and there might be a line to get seats. Seattle-side folks can get on at other Cap Hill or downtown stops. Eastside folks can get on at South Bellevue station bay 2 -- the bus is scheduled to get there at 9:32am, but I'd recommend being there by 9:25am, just in case...
Drivers: No, do not try to park at any of the Si area trailheads. First, the parking lots all fill up. Second, this is a through hike -- we're not starting and ending at the same trailhead. Finding parking on Capitol Hill can be difficult -- if you're on the Seattle side, how about trying to take a bus or light rail to Capitol Hill? If you're on the Eastside, you could park at the South Bellevue station (bus is scheduled there at 9:32am), or at the North Bend Park & Ride (bus at 9:58am) -- for both, leave yourself enough time to find the bus stop, and be waiting 5-10 minutes early.
Google Maps does not have some of the trails. Use OpenStreetMap, or an app that uses OpenStreetMap data.
Trailhead Direct Mt Si schedule: https://trailheaddirect.org/mount-si/
Did I mention plenty of water? No, that little 16 oz bottle isn't enough. Running out of water is no fun...
